Malick Sidibé (1935 – 14 April 2016) was a

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

an photographer noted for his

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

studies of

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in ...

in the 1960s in

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on the Niger River ...

. Sidibé had a long and fruitful career as a photographer in Bamako, Mali, and was a well-known figure in his community. In 1994 he had his first exhibition outside of Mali and received much critical praise for his carefully composed portraits. Sidibé's work has since become well known and renowned on a global scale.Touré, A. Chab
"Midnight in Bamako: In search of the late Malick Sidibé and the rhythmic roots of his legendary photographs"
''Aperture'', Issue 224. His work was the subject of a number of publications and exhibited throughout Europe and the United States. In 2007, he received a Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

,Van Gelder, Lawrence (11 June 2007)
"Malian Photographer Honored at Biennale"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. becoming both the first photographer and the first African so recognized.BBC Staff (15 April 2016). Other awards he has received include a

Hasselblad Award The Hasselblad Award (in full: Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography) is an award granted to "a photographer recognized for major achievements". History The award—and the Hasselblad Foundation—was set up from the estate ...

for photography, an

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...

Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement, and a

World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization is known for holding an annual press photography contest. Since 2011, World Press Photo has organized a ...

award. Sidibé's work is held in the collections of The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC), the

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

in Los Angeles, and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

in New York.

Life and work

Sidibé was born in the village of Soloba, 300 km from

, in Mali. His father, a stock breeder, farmer, and skilled hunter named Kolo Barry Sidibé. Malick's father had wanted him to attend school, but passed before he was able to attend at the age of 16. In 1955 photographer Gérard Guillat came to the school looking for a student to decorate his studio, eventually hiring Sidibé. Guillat was impressed with his work and took him on as an apprentice. Sidibé's first tasks included calibrating equipment, and delivering prints. He soon learned more about photography as he assisted Guillat, and eventually took on his own clients. In 1957 Guillat closed his studio, and Sidibé began taking photographs of Bamako nightlife.Lamuniere, Michelle, Malick Sidibe, and Lia Brozga
"Ready to Wear: A conversation with Malick Sidibe"
''Transition'' 10, no. 4 (2001): 132–159. He specialized in documentary photography, focusing particularly on the youth culture of the Malian capital.Schwendener, Martha (27 February 2014)

''

''. Sidibé took photographs at sport events, the beach, nightclubs, concerts, and even tagged along while the young men seduced girls. He increasingly became noted for his black-and-white studies of popular culture in the 1960s in Bamako. In the 1970s, Sidibé turned towards the making of studio portraits. His background in drawing became useful:

As a rule, when I was working in the studio, I did a lot of the positioning. As I have a background in drawing, I was able to set up certain positions in my portraits. I didn't want my subjects to look like mummies. I would give them positions that brought something alive in them.

In 1962 Sidibé opened his own studio in the Bagadadji neighborhood or Bamako. Sidibé continued to take photos of the surprise parties and club gatherings of the city until 1976. He attributed ending his career in reportagé to fewer club parties, rise in availability of affordable cameras, and the growth of the auto-lab film development industry. Sidibé continued to shoot black and white studio portraits, ID photos, and fix broken cameras at his Bamako studio. While Sidibé was locally famous for decades, he was not introduced into the Western fine art world until 1994 when he had a chance encounter with French curator André Magnin. One of the best known of Sidibé's works from that time is ''Nuit de Noel, Happy Club (Christmas Eve, Happy Club)'' (1963), depicting a smiling couple — the man in a suit, the woman in a Western party dress (but barefoot) and both dancing, presumably, to music. And it was images like these that revealed how Sidibé's photographic style was inextricably linked to music. This connection is something that Sidibé had spoken about during interviews, over the years. It is perhaps no surprise that other Malian artists, such as the musicians

Salif Keita Salif Keïta () (born 25 August 1949) is a Malian singer-songwriter, referred to as the "Golden Voice of Africa". He is a member of the Keita royal family of Mali. Biography Early life Salif Keita was born a traditional prince in the village o ...

and

Ali Farka Touré Ali Ibrahim "Ali Farka" Touré (31 October 1939 – 6 March 2006) was a Malian singer and multi-instrumentalist, and one of the African continent's most internationally renowned musicians. His music blends traditional Malian music and its deriva ...

, also came to international attention in the 1990s at almost the same moment as Malian photography was being recognized. Sidibé used flash when out in the field, but only tungsten lighting in the studio. He used an Agfa 6 x 6 camera with bellows to shoot weddings and more formal events, and a Foca Sport 24 x 36 for his more candid work. He was known as a very charming person and would tell his clients jokes to put them at ease while shooting portraits. The

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

award-winning video of

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

's 1997 song " Got 'til It's Gone" is strongly indebted to the photographic style of Sidibé, and the video pays tribute to a particular time (during the 1960s and '70s) that Sidibé's pictures had helped to document. This was the time period just after the

French Sudan French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

(and then the

Mali Federation The Mali Federation ( ar, اتحاد مالي) was a federation in West Africa linking the French colonies of Senegal and the Sudanese Republic (or French Sudan) for two months in 1960. It was founded on 4 April 1959 as a territory with self-r ...

) had gained their Independence from France in 1960. This new era (post-1960) has, subsequently, been characterized by various observers as a post-

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

(and post-

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

) awakening of consciousness. Many of those who admire Sidibé's work believe that he somehow captured the joy and wonder of this awakening, and that it is seen in the faces, scenes, and images that he helped to illuminate. More recently, Sidibé's influence can be seen directly through Inna Modja’s 2015 video for her song "Tombouctou," as it was filmed in Sidibé's photography studio. In 2006, Tigerlily Films made a documentary entitled '' Dolce Vita Africana'' about Sidibé, filming him at work in his studio in Bamako, having a reunion with many of his friends (and former photographic subjects) from his younger days, and speaking to him about his work. Sidibé became the first African and the first photographer to be awarded the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement at the

in 2007. Robert Storr, the show's artistic director, said: Sidibé died of complications from diabetes in Bamako. He was survived by 17 children and three wives.

Publications

Publications by Sidibé

*''Malick Sidibé.'' Zurich; New York: Scalo, 1998. . Edited by André Magnin. With an introduction by Magnin, and essays by Sibidé ("Studio Malick"), Youssouf Doumbia, ("Ambiance totale avec Garrincha!"), Panka Dembelé ("Twist again!"), and Boubacar 'Kar Kar' Traoré ("Elvis est vivant!"). Included a four-song music CD by Kar Kar. *''Malick Sidibé, Photographe: "vues de dos" photographies.'' Carnets de la création, Mali. Montreal: Editions de l'oeil, 2001. . With a text by Amadou Chab Touré. 24 pages. *''Malick Sidibe: Photographs: the Hasselblad Award 2003''. Göteborg, Sweden: Hasselblad Center; Göttingen:

Steidl Steidl is a German-language publisher, an international publisher of photobooks, and a printing company, based in Göttingen, Germany. It was started in 1968 by Gerhard Steidl and is still run by him. Overview The company was started by Gerh ...

, 2003. . With a foreword by Gunilla Knape, an essay by

Manthia Diawara Manthia Diawara (born December 19, 1953) is a Malian writer, filmmaker, cultural theorist, scholar, and art historian. He holds the title of University Professor at New York University (NYU), where he is Director of the Institute of Afro-American ...

, "The 1960s in Bamako: Malick Sidibé and James Brown", and a transcript of an interview with Sidibé by André Magnin. Published on the occasion of the exhibition ''Malick Sidibé: 2003 Hasselblad Award Winner'' held at the Hasselblad Center, Göteborg, Sweden, 2003. *''Malick Sidibé: Chemises.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2007. . Catalog of an exhibition presented at

Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam Foam or Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam is a photography museum located at the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The museum has four different exhibitions at any given time in which different photographic genres are shown, such as document ...

and at Musée Nicệphore Niépce, Chalon-sur-Saône. *''Malick Sidibe.'' Wilsele, Belgium: Exhibitions International, 2008. By Foundation Zinsou. . *''Bagadadji.'' Saint-Brieuc, France: GwinZegal, 2008. . With an essay by Florian Ebner, "La scène de Bagadadji". Portraits of the inhabitants of Bagadadji, Bamako, taken between 1964 and 1976. ** English-language version. ** French-language version. ** German-language version. *''Perception.'' Saint-Brieuc, France: GwinZegal, 2008. . In French. Studio portraits made in Brittany, France, over the course of three weeks in July 2006. *''Malick Sidibé: La Vie en Rose.'' Milan: Silvana, 2010. Edited and with text by Laura Incardona and Laura Serani. . *''Malick Sidibé: The Portrait of Mali (Sinetica Landscape).'' Milan: Skira, 2011. Edited By Laura Incardona, Laura Serani, and Sabrina Zannier. . Text in English, French and Italian. *''Malick Sidibé: Au village.'' Montreuil, France: Éditions de L'Œil, 2011. . Text by Brigitte Ollier. Studio portraits taken in Sidibé's native village of Soloba over the course of 50 years. In French. *''Malick Sidibé.'' :fr:Photo Poche No. 145. Arles, France: :fr:Actes Sud, 2013. . With an introduction by Laura Serani.

Publications with contributions by Sidibé

*''Photographes de Bamako: de 1935 à nos jours.'' Collection Soleil. Paris: Revue Noire, 1989. . Photographs by Sidibé, Mountaga Dembélé,

Seydou Keïta Seydou Keïta (1921/23 – 21 November 2001) was a Malian photographer known for his portraits of people and families he took at his portrait photography studio in Mali's capital, Bamako, in the 1950s. His photographs are widely acknowledged n ...

, Félix Diallo, Sakaly, AMAP,

Alioune Bâ Alioune Bâ (born 1959) is a Malian photographer. Bâ was born in Bamako. He started working for the Musée National du Mali (National Museum of Mali) in 1983. His art focuses on the body, in particular the hands and feet of his subjects. Publ ...

, Emmanuel Daou, Abdourahmane Sakaly, and others. With a text by Érika Nimis. In French and English. *''In/sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present.'' New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1996. . With an introduction by Clare Bell and essays by

Okwui Enwezor Okwui Enwezor (23 October 1963 – 15 March 2019) was a Nigerian curator, art critic, writer, poet, and educator, specializing in art history. He lived in New York City and Munich. In 2014, he was ranked 24 in the '' ArtReview'' list of the 100 ...

Olu Oguibe Olu Oguibe (born 14 October 1964) is a Nigerian-born American artist and academic.Olu Oguibe
Retrieve ...

, and Octavio Zaya. Photographs by Sidibé, Cornélius Yao Azaglo Augustt, Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé, Zarina Bhimji, Gordon Bleach, Nabil Boutros, Cloete Breytenbach, Salla Casset, Mody Sory Diallo,

Mohammed Dib Mohammed Dib ( ar, محمد ديب; 21 July 1920 – 2 May 2003) was an Algerian author. He wrote over 30 novels, as well as numerous short stories, poems, and children's literature in the French language. He is probably Algeria's most prolific ...

, Kamel Dridi, Touhami Ennadre, Mathew Faji,

Rotimi Fani-Kayode Oluwarotimi Adebiyi Wahab Fani-Kayode (20 April 1955 – 21 December 1989) was a Nigerian-born photographer, who moved to England at the age of 12 to escape the Nigerian Civil War. The main body of his work was created between 1982 and 1989. He ...

Samuel Fosso Samuel Fosso (born July 17, 1962) is a Cameroonian-born Nigerian photographer who has worked for most of his career in the Central African Republic. His work includes using self-portraits adopting a series of personas, often commenting on the hist ...

Jellel Gasteli Jellel Gasteli (born in Tunis in 1958) is a French-Tunisian photographer. He is best known for his minimalistic "White Series" (''La Série Blanche''), which captures the geometry of light and shadow on traditional white-washed Tunisian building ...

, Meïssa Gaye, Christian Gbagbo,

David Goldblatt David Goldblatt HonFRPS (29 November 1930 – 25 June 2018) was a South African photographer noted for his portrayal of South Africa during the period of apartheid.Weinberg, Paul.David Goldblatt: Photographer Who Found the Human in an Inhum ...

Bob Gosani Bob Gosani (1934–1972) was a South African photographer. Career Gosani started off at '' Drum'' magazine as a messenger but soon moved to the photographic department where he became Jürgen Schadeberg's darkroom assistant. He later became one o ...

, Ranjith Kally,

Seydou Keita Seydou Keïta (; anglicised to Keita; born 16 January 1980) is a Malian former footballer. A versatile midfielder, he operated as both a central or defensive midfielder. Keita most notably played for Lens (five seasons) and Barcelona (four), w ...

, Peter Magubane, Santu Mofokeng, G.R. Naidoo, Lamia Naji, Gopal Naransamy, Lionel Oostendorp,

Ricardo Rangel Ricardo Achiles Rangel (15 February 1924 – 11 June 2009) was a Mozambican photojournalist and photographer. Biography Early life Rangel was born in the city of Lourenço Marques, now known as Maputo, capital of Mozambique, in February 192 ...

, and Iké Udé. Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, May–September, 1996. *''Clubs of Bamako: 9 March-16 April 2000.'' Houston, TX: Rice University Art Gallery, 2000. . Photographs by Sidibé, Emile Guebehi, Koffi Kouakou, and Coulibaly Siaka Paul. Catalogue of an exhibition. *''You Look Beautiful Like That: The Portrait – Photographs of Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibe.'' New Haven, CT:

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univer ...

, 2001. . Edited by Michelle Lamuniere. *''Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé: Portraits of Pride: West African Portrait Photography.'' Katalog / Moderna Museet 318. Stockholm:

Moderna Museet Moderna Museet ("the Museum of Modern Art"), Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened a new branch in Malmö i ...

; Raster-Förl, 2002. . Photographs by Sibidé, Samuel Fosso, and Seydou Keïta. Catalogue of an exhibition held at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, September–October 2002; Norskt Fotomuseum, March–April 2003. In Swedish and English. *''African Art Now: Masterpieces From the Jean Pigozzi Collection.'' London; New York: Merrell, 2005. . By André Magnin, Alison de Lima Greene, Alvia J. Wardlaw, and Thomas McEvilley. Paintings, photographs, sculpture and installation art by 33 artists. Catalogue of an exhibition of work from The Contemporary African Art Collection held at

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Bui ...

. *''The Poetics of Cloth: African Textiles, Recent Art.'' New York: Grey Art Gallery, New York University, 2008. . Edited by Lynn Gumpert. With essays by Kofi Anyidoho, Lynn Gumpert, and John Picton, and contributions by Jennifer S. Brown, Lydie Diakhaté, Janet Goldner, Lynn Gumpert, John Picton, and Doran H. Ross. Reproductions of paintings, sculptures, videos and photographs by Sidibé, El Anatsui, Samuel Cophis, Viye Diba, Sokari Douglas Camp, Groupe Bogolan Kasobane, Abdoulaye Konate, Rachid Koraichi, Atta Kwami, Grace Ndiritu, Nike Okundaye, Owusu-Ankomah, Yinka Shonibare, Nontsikelelo "Lolo" Veleko, Rikki Wemega-Kwawu, and Sue Williamson. "Published on the occasion of an exhibition held at Grey Art Gallery, Sept. 16-Dec. 6, 2008." *''Events of the Self: Portraiture and Social Identity: Contemporary African Photography from the Walther Collection.'' Burlafingen, Germany:

The Walther Collection The Walther Collection is a private non-profit organization dedicated to researching, collecting, exhibiting, and publishing modern and contemporary photography and video art. The collection has two exhibition spaces: the Walther Collection i ...

; Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2010. . Edited by Okwui Enwezor. With texts by Willis E. Hartshorn and

Artur Walther Artur Walther (born October 9, 1948) is a German-American art collector focused on exhibiting and publishing contemporary photography and video art. A graduate of Harvard Business School, Walther was a General Partner at Goldman Sachs until his r ...

, Gabriele Conrath-Scholl, Virginia Heckert, Chika Okeke-Agulu, Deborah Willis ("Malick Sidibé´: the front of the back view"), Santu Mofokeng, and

Kobena Mercer Kobena Mercer (born 1960) is a British art historian and writer on contemporary art and visual culture. His writing on Robert Mapplethorpe and Rotimi Fani-Kayode has been described as "among the most incisive (and delightful to read) critiques o ...

. Photographs by Sibidé, Sammy Baloji, Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé, Yto Barrada,

Bernd and Hilla Becher Bernhard "Bernd" Becher (; 20 August 1931 – 22 June 2007), and Hilla Becher, née Wobeser (2 September 1934 – 10 October 2015), were German conceptual artists and photographers working as a collaborative duo. They are best known for their ...

, Candice Breitz, Allan deSouza, Theo Eshetu,

, Samuel Fosso, David Goldblatt, Kay Hassan, Romuald Hazoumè,

Pieter Hugo Pieter Hugo (born 1976) is a South African photographer who primarily works in portraiture. He lives in Cape Town.Leah Ollman (9 February 2007)Photography that goes only skin deep''Los Angeles Times''. Hugo has had four monographs published. H ...

, Seydou Keïta,

Maha Maamoun Maha Maamoun (born 1972, Oakland, California), is an Egyptian award-winning visual artist and curator based in Cairo. She is a founding board member of the Contemporary Image Collective (CiC), an independent non-profit space for art and culture f ...

, Boubacar Touré Mandémory,

Salem Mekuria Salem Mekuria (born 1947) is an Ethiopian-born independent filmmaker, video artist and educator living in the United States. Life and work Mekuria was born in Addis Ababa. She was educated there and in Axum, and moved to the United States in 196 ...

, Santu Mofokeng,

Zwelethu Mthethwa Zwelethu Mthethwa (born 1960) is a South African painter and photographer. He was convicted of murder in 2017, and is currently incarcerated at Pollsmoor Prison. Biography Mthethwa, a native of Durban, graduated from the Michaelis School of F ...

Zanele Muholi Zanele Muholi (born 19 July 1972) is a South African artist and visual activist working in photography, video, and installation. Muholi's work focuses on race, gender and sexuality with a body of work that dates back to the early 2000's, documen ...

, James Muriuku, Ingrid Mwangi, Grace Ndiritu, J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere, Jo Ractliffe,

August Sander August Sander (17 November 1876 – 20 April 1964) was a German portrait and documentary photographer. His first book ''Face of our Time'' (German: ''Antlitz der Zeit'') was published in 1929. Sander has been described as "the most important Ger ...

Berni Searle Berni Searle (born 7 July 1964 in Cape Town, South Africa) is an artist who works with photography, video, and film to produce lens-based installations that stage narratives connected to history, identity, memory, and place. Often politically a ...

Mikhael Subotzky Mikhael Subotzky (born Cape Town, South Africa, 1981) is a South African artist based in Johannesburg. His installation, film, video and photographic work have been exhibited widely in museums and galleries, and received awards including the KLM ...

, Guy Tillim, Hentie van der Merwe, and

Nontsikelelo Veleko Nontsikelelo "Lolo" Veleko (born 19 August 1977) is a South African photographer most noted for her depiction of black identity, urbanisation and fashion in post-apartheid South Africa. Life and work Veleko was born on (19 August 1977 in Bodi ...

. In English with German translation. Published to accompany an exhibition in Burlafingen, Germany, June 2010. *''Everything was Moving: Photography from the 60s and 70s.'' London: Barbican Art Gallery, 2012. . Edited by Kate Bush and

Gerry Badger Gerald David "Gerry" Badger (born 1946) is an English writer and curator of photography, and a photographer. In 2018 he received the J Dudley Johnston Award from the Royal Photographic Society. Life and career Badger was born in 1946 in Northam ...

. With texts by Bush ("Everything was moving"), Badger ("Spirit of the times, spirit of place: a view of photography in the 1960s and 1970s"),

Gavin Jantjes Gavin Jantjes (born 1948 in District Six, Cape Town) is a South African painter, curator, writer and lecturer. Life Jantjes attended the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town from 1966 to 1969. He left apartheid South Africa ...

("Ernest Cole"),

Sean O'Hagan Sean O'Hagan (born 1959) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas, which he founded in 1992. He is also known for being one half of the songwriting duo (with Cathal Coughlan) in Microdisney and f ...

("The unreal everyday: William Eggleston's America" and "Against detachment: Bruce Davidson's photographs of America during the Civil Rights Era"), Tanya Barson ("Graciela Iturbide: a matter of complicity"),

T.J. Demos T.J. Demos is an art historian and cultural critic who writes on contemporary art and visual culture, particularly in relation to globalization, politics, migration and ecology. Currently a Professor in the Department of History of Art and ...

("On Sigmar Polke's Der Bärenkampf"), Helen Petrovsky ("Boris Mikhailov: towards a new universality"),

Boris Mikhailov Boris Mikhailov may refer to: * Boris Mikhailov (Comintern), representative of the Communist International to the US in 1929-30 * Boris Mikhailov (photographer) (born 1938), fine art photographer * Boris Mikhailov (ice hockey) (born 1944), former ...

("Yesterday's sandwich"),

Ian Jeffrey Ian Jeffrey is an English art historian, writer and curator. Jeffrey is the author of a series of illustrated books on the history of photography. He is a recipient of the Royal Photographic Society's J. Dudley Johnston Award. Life and work J ...

("Shomei Tomatsu"), Julian Stallabrass ("Rather a hawk?: the photography of Larry Burrows"), Robert Pledge ("Li Zhensheng: the cinematographer behind the photographer"), Manthia Diawara ("The sixties in Bamako: Malick Sidibé and James Brown"), Shanay Jhaveri ("Raghubir Singh and the geographical culture of India"), and Raghubir Singh ("River of colour: an Indian view"). Photographs by Sidibé,

, Ernest Cole,

William Eggleston William Eggleston (born July 27, 1939) is an American photographer. He is widely credited with increasing recognition for color photography as a legitimate artistic medium. Eggleston's books include ''William Eggleston's Guide'' (1976) and ''The ...

, Bruce Davidson, Graciela Iturbide,

Sigmar Polke Sigmar Polke (13 February 1941 – 10 June 2010) was a German painter and photographer. Polke experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matters and materials. In the 1970s, he concentrated on photography, returning to paint in the 1980s ...

, Boris Mikhailov, Shomei Tomatsu,

Larry Burrows Henry Frank Leslie Burrows (29 May 1926 – 10 February 1971), known as Larry Burrows, was an English photojournalist. He spent 9 years covering the Vietnam War. Early career Burrows began his career in the art department of the Daily Express ...

, Li Zhensheng, and Raghubir Singh. Published on the occasion of the exhibition ''Everything was Moving: Photography from the 60s and 70s,'' curated by Kate Bush, September 2012–January 2013 at Barbican Art Gallery, Barbican Centre, London. *''Malian Portrait Photography''. New Platz, New York: Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, 2013. . Photographs by Sidibé and Seydou Keïta, El Hadj Hamidou Maïga, Abdourahmane Sakaly, and El Hadj Tijani Àdìgún Sitou. With text by Daniel Leers. "Published on the occasion of the exhibition Malian Portrait Photography on display from January 23–April 14, 2013, in the North Gallery of the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at the State University of New York at New Paltz." *''Afriphoto II.'' Collection Afriphoto, Vols 5–8. Trézélan: Filigranes, 2005. . Vol. 5 is by Sidibé, vol. 6 is by Bill Akwa Bétotè, vol. 7 is by Omar D, and vol. 8 is by Fouad Hamza Tibin and Mohamed Yahia Issa. Edited by Corinne Julien. With texts by Guy Hersant, Jacques Matinet, and Claude Iverné. In French.

Publications about Sidibé

*''Retrats de l'Anima: Fotografia Africana.'' Barcelona:

La Caixa La Caixa, also known as the "La Caixa" Foundation ( es, Fundación ”la Caixa”), is a not-for-profit banking foundation based in Catalonia. Originally a savings bank (''caja''), it reorganized in the 2000s and 2010s: Its commercial assets ar ...

Foundation, 1997. . By Sélim Benattiam, Cristina de Borbón, and Rosa Casamada. In Catalan and English. An exhibition catalogue. With a contribution by Mounira Khemir, "De una Punta a otra de Africa. Impresionas Fotograficas". *''The 1960s in Bamako: Malick Sidibé and James Brown''. Paper Series on the Arts, Culture, and Society, Paper No. 11. By Manthia Diawara. New York:

Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

, 2001. . About Sidibé and James Brown.The text can be rea
here within the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts website
*''Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire, Vol. 4, No. 2/3.'' New York:

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

, 2002. Included an essay by Manthia Diawara, ''The 1960s in Bamako: Malick Sidibé and James Brown''. *''Black Cultural Traffic: Crossroads in Global Performance and Popular Culture.'' Ann Arbor:

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, 2005. Edited by Harry J. Elam, Jr., and Kennell Jackson Jr. . Includes a chapter by Manthia Diawara, "The 1960s in Bamako: Malick Sidibé and James Brown."

Awards

*2003:

for photography *2007: Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement,

*2008: Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement,

(ICP), New York *2010:

award – first prize singles, Arts and Entertainment

Collections

Sidibé's work is held in the following public collections: *

The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and list of largest art museums, largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visit ...

, Chicago, Illinois * The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Jean Pigozzi, Geneva *

, Los Angeles, CA *

, New York *

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...

, New York *

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

, San Francisco *

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of ...

, Baltimore, MD *

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. It has one of the most extensive collections of artwork in the Southeastern United States, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts repr ...

, Birmingham, AL *

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...

(New York) *

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (2 ...

, Atlanta, GA *

, New York *

, Stockholm *The

, Houston, Texas

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* 1995: ''Malick Sidibé: Bamako 1962–1976,''

Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain The Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, known simply as the Fondation Cartier, is a contemporary art museum located at 261 boulevard Raspail in the 14th arrondissement of the French capital, Paris. History The Fondation Cartier was creat ...

, Paris * 1999:

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contempora ...

, IL * 1999: ''Malick Sidibé. Photographie'', Dany Keller Galerie, Munich * 1999: ''Cool Cats and Twist Club'',

Australian Centre for Photography The Australian Centre for Photography (ACP) is a not-for-profit photography gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia that was established in 1973. ACP also provides part-time courses and community programs. It is one of the longest running c ...

, Sydney, Australia * 2000: Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva, Switzerland * 2001:

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna The ("national gallery of modern and contemporary art"), also known as La Galleria Nazionale, is an art gallery in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1883 on the initiative of the then Minister Guido Baccelli and is dedicated to modern and contempo ...

, Rome, Italy * 2001:

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

, Netherlands * 2002: HackelBury Fine Art Limited, London * 2003: Hasselblad Center,

Gothenburg Museum of Art Gothenburg Museum of Art ( sv, Göteborgs konstmuseum) is located at Götaplatsen in Gothenburg, Sweden. It claims to be the third largest art museum in Sweden by size of its collection. Collections The museum holds the world's finest collect ...

, Gothenburg, Sweden * 2004: CAV Coimbra Visual Arts Centre, Coimbra, Portugal * 2004: Museet for Fotokunst, Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense, Denmark * 2005: ''Photographs: 1960–2004'',

Jack Shainman Gallery Jack Shainman Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in New York City. The gallery was founded by Jack Shainman and Claude Simard (19562014) in 1984 in Washington, D.C. The gallery has a focus on artists from Africa, East Asia, and North America. ...

, New York, USA * 2007: ''Malick Sidibé. C'est Pas Ma Faute'', Musee des arts derniers, Paris * 2007: ''Malick Sidibé. Los Sabena Club'', Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp, Belgium * 2008: ''Malick Sidibé. Chemises'',

, Amsterdam, Netherlands * 2009: ''Malick Sidibé. Bamako Nights'', Musée Nicéphore Niépce, Chalon sur Saône, France * 2010: "Studio Malick", Tristan Hoare, London * 2011: ''Malick Sidibé. The Eye of Bamako'', M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA * 2015: ''Studio Malick. Gares de Bretagne et Montparnasse'', Frac Bretagne, Conseil régional and SNCF * 2014: ''Malick Sidibé'',

, New York, USA * 2016: ''It's Too Funky In Here! By Malick Sidibé'', FIFTY ONE TOO, Antwerp, Belgium * 2017: ''Malick Sidibé. The Eye of Modern Mali,''

Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ( ...

, London His first solo exhibition in the UK.

Group exhibitions and festivals

* 1995: ''Seydou Keita & Malick Sidibe: Photographs From Mali'', Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland * 1996: ''Double vie, Double vue'',

Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain The Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, known simply as the Fondation Cartier, is a contemporary art museum located at 261 boulevard Raspail in the 14th arrondissement of the French capital, Paris. History The Fondation Cartier was creat ...

, Paris, France * 1996: ''By Night'',

, Paris, France * 1999: 6th International İstanbul Biennial 1999, International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey * 2000: ''Africa: Past-Present'', Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp * 2001–2003: ''You look beautiful like that: The Portrait of Photographs of Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé,''

Fogg Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

, Cambridge, MA; UCLA Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles, USA; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach FL; National Portrait Gallery, London; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA * 2004: ''Photography: Inaugural Installation'',

(MoMA), New York, USA * 2004: ''Seeds and Roots'', The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, USA * 2005: ''African Art Now - Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection'',

National Museum of African Art The National Museum of African Art is the Smithsonian Institution's African art museum, located on the National Mall of the United States capital. Its collections include 9,000 works of traditional and contemporary African art from both Sub-S ...

, Washington, USA * 2007: ''Why Africa? The work of 13 photographers including Sidibé, Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Chéri Samba, Makonde Lilanga, and Keita Seydou'', Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, Italy. * 2009: ''Masters of Photography'', Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp, Belgium * 2009: ''Some Tribes'', Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland * 2010: ''Posing Beauty in African American Culture'', Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, USA * 2010: ''Un Rêve Utile: Photographie Africaine 1960–2010'', BOZAR –

Palais des Beaux-Arts The Centre for Fine Arts (french: Palais des Beaux-Arts, nl, Paleis voor Schone Kunsten) is a multi-purpose cultural venue in Brussels, Belgium. It is often referred to as BOZAR (a homophone of ''Beaux-arts'') in French or PSK in Dutch. The b ...

, Brussels *2010: ''Represent: Imaging African American Culture In Contemporary Art'', Hagedorn Foundation Gallery, Atlanta, USA * 2010: ''African Stories,'' Marrakech Art Fair, Marrakech * 2011:

Paris Photo Paris Photo is an annual international art fair dedicated to photography. It was founded in 1997, and is held in November at the Grand Palais exhibition hall and museum complex, located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement in Pari ...

, Grand Palais,

* 2012: ''Afrika, hin und zurück'',

Museum Folkwang Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patr ...

, Essen * 2012: ''Gaze – The Changing Face of Portrait Photography'',

Istanbul Modern ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, Istanbul, Turkey * 2012: ''Everything Was Moving: Photography from the 60s and 70s'', Barbican Centre, * 2014: ''Back to Front'', Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Seattle, USA * 2014: Ici l'Afrique, Château de Penthes, Pregny-Chambésy, France * 2015: ''The Pistil's waitz'', Gallery Fifty One, Antwerp, Belgium * 2015: ''Making Africa. Un Continente De Diseño Contemporáneo'',

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. The museum was inaugurated on 18 October 1997 by King Juan Carlos I of Spa ...

, Bilbao, Spain * 2016: ''VIVRE !!'',

Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration The Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration is a museum of immigration history located in the 12th arrondissement of Paris at 293, avenue Daumesnil. The nearest métro station is Porte Dorée. It is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. ...

, Paris, France * 2016: ''Regarding Africa: Contemporary Art and Afro-Futurism'',

Tel Aviv Museum of Art Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( he, מוזיאון תל אביב לאמנות ''Muzeon Tel Aviv Leomanut'') is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of modern and contemporary art from Israel and aroun ...

, Tel Aviv, Israel * 2017: ''Back Stories'', Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Seattle, USA * 2017: ''Il Cacciatore Bianco / The White Hunter'', FM Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy * 2017: ''Rhona Hoffman. 40 Years: Part 3. Political'', Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, USA *2020: ''Through an African Lens: Sub-Saharan Photography from the Museum's Collections'', The

, Houston, Texas

Film and television appearances

*''Malick Sidibé: portrait of the artist as a portraitist'' (2006). . Directed by Susan Vogel for the National Museum of Mali / Prince Street Pictures. Produced by Vogel, Samuel Sidbe, and Catherine de Clippel. Interview with Sidibé by Jean-Paul Colleyn. In French with English subtitles. *'' Dolce Vita Africana'' (2008, Tigerlily Films). 62 mins. Directed by Cosima Spender. Produced by Natasha Dack, Nikki Parrott, and Spender. A documentary about Sidibé, and about Malian history as told through people he photographed. In

Bamanankan Bambara ( Arabic script: ), also known as Bamana (N'Ko script: ) or Bamanankan (), is a lingua franca and national language of Mali spoken by perhaps 15 million people, natively by 5 million Bambara people and about 10 million second-language ...

and French. The film was shown as part of

BBC4 BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

's '' Storyville'' series in March 2008. *''Malick Sidibé, le Partage'' (2013, P.O.M. Films; Éditions de L'Œil, ADAV). 52 mins. DVD and brochure. Film by Thomas Glaser, text by Gaël Teicher. . The film is in French with French and English subtitles, and the text is in French.

Notes

References

External links

"Malick Sidibé"
by Douglas Sloan (6-min. video)
Artnet, s.v. "Malick Sidibe"

Clewing, Ulrich. "Malick Sidibé: Pictures full of music"

Contemporary African Art Collection, Geneva
* Sidibé a
Jack Shainman Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidibe, Malick 1935 births 2016 deaths Malian photographers Year of birth unknown People from Sikasso Region People from Bamako 20th-century photographers 21st-century photographers 21st-century Malian people

Life and work

Publications

Publications by Sidibé

Publications with contributions by Sidibé

Publications about Sidibé

Awards

Collections

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions and festivals

Film and television appearances

Notes

References

Further reading

External links